Highway Patrol Holiday Crash Stats

(Jefferson City, MO.) Officials with the Missouri State Highway Patrol report five traffic deaths over the 4th of July holiday weekend. Other statistics show there were 294 traffic crashes across the state that included 107 injuries and the five fatalities. There were also 139 DWI arrests and 126 drug arrests. There were nine boating accidents worked by patrol troopers that included four injuries and one drowning. There were six BWI arrests and 25 boating drug arrests. The drowning took place Friday, July 3rd. Water Patrol reports indicate Gregory J. Muller, 62, of O’Fallon, drowned when he was swimming off a sandbar and got caught in an eddy. The incident occurred at the 54-mile marker of the Missouri River in St. Charles County. During the 2019 counting period, 15 people were killed and 457 injured statewide in Missouri over the holiday in 1,109 traffic crashes. Troopers arrested 162 people for driving while intoxicated last year. Over the 2019 July Fourth holiday, there were nine boating crashes, which included four injuries and no fatalities. Three people drowned during last year's holiday. Troopers made 13 boating while intoxicated arrests during the 2019 counting period.  The 2020 July Fourth holiday counting period began at 6 p.m., Thursday, July 2, and ended at 11:59 p.m., Sunday, July 5, 2020.